Garima Saxena’s latest E-book, Yudi – Unser Kleiner Held (Yudi – Our Little Hero) is a collection of 10 short stories for children in German. These are inspired by real-life events and little titbits in the day-to-day growing years. Both the German edition and the English version E-books are available on KDP Amazon. Asrashaheen.in chats up with none other than the author herself to find out what keeps this passionate teacher motivated to pen books.
Four-year-old Yudi is a cheerful little bundle of joy just like any other boy next door. Like most kids of his age, Yudi’s world is surrounded by his much-loved toys, friends, classroom and cartoon shows. A day in the life of Yudi has “challenges” arising from these very belongings and relations.
One day, his best friend wants to ride his Bobbycar. But Yudi is very possessive of his favourite toy car and is unwilling to share it with anyone. Another day in school, his teacher instructs the class to draw a simple sketch of a bird. His classmates do it with ease but Yudi goes totally blank. He is disheartened and breaks into tears while narrating his inability to draw in the classroom to his mother… On another occasion, he finds his red toy missing, the one he wished to take to his Kindergarten on the ‘Spielzeugtag’, a special day in the school. What happens next? How does he face his fears when he is troubled by nightmares in his sleep after unexpectedly coming across a horror show ad in the middle of his favourite cartoon?
Garima Saxena’s latest E-book, Yudi – Unser Kleiner Held (Moralische Geschichten für Kinder) is a collection of 10 such short stories in German that are inspired by real-life events and little titbits in the day-to-day growing years. Garima’s Yudi is the central character and personifies the virtuous path that is “good to go” for a child. Besides being a bedtime storytelling aid for parents, it can also play an informal child behaviour guide with some useful takeaways for guardians. The stories have a moral lesson and are ideal for five to eight-year-old children.
Garima’s tryst with Germany began in her childhood when her parents of Indian origin were living there for a couple of years. The family then moved to India. “Institute of German Studies in NCR in India, where I studied German levels A1 to C2, greatly influenced me in taking up German language teaching as a career,” explains Garima, who relocated to Germany once again after her marriage. She adds, “Through my books, I have an inherent desire to impart moral value education to my son and by publishing the same I hope to do so to other children in my own humble way. Besides that I also feel that the German edition may enable the reader to improve his or her German language skills,” says Garima, who is hopeful of publishing the paperback version too. Also in the pipeline is her German E-book of poetry.
Both the German edition and the English version (Yudi – Our Little Hero; Moral Stories for Children) are available on Amazon.
As Garima’s E-books got published on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Amazon recently, Asrahaheen.in chats up with none other than the author herself. We find out what keeps this passionate teacher motivated to pen books amidst her super busy schedule as a full-time mom to her 5-year-old son and also as a freelancer re-establishing herself as a German language tutor.
Tell us more about how the book happened.
My German teacher Frau Dayal always keeps motivating and encouraging me to write in German. It was her idea that I translate some good stories, which have a moral value, into German. She felt this would help in instilling good values in children.
I did give it a thought but the idea couldn’t materialize because of my busy schedule in the past few years. I have been solely devoted towards bringing up my son. In the process of upbringing, I pay a lot of emphasis on indirectly imbibing values in him by narrating stories created by me. These stories were created spontaneously while narrating to him bedtime tales inspired from his day-to-day experiences. The main character of Yudi is imaginary but my son is the true inspiration behind. The moral lessons are based on the lessons I have myself learned in my life. The illustrations in the book are also genuine moments captured and converted into sketch.
While many believe moral values are universal, cultural differences do play a role in bringing their own nuances. As someone of Indian origin, who moved to Germany a couple of years back, you may have witnessed these interesting differences in moral values.
Yes, I do realise the cultural differences between India and Germany. In fact there are diversified cultures within India as well. My early childhood was spent in Wedel near Hamburg in Germany. I was further fortunate to have lived and studied in 11 different schools in Germany and India both due to the transferable nature of my father’s job, who served in Defence Services. I have seen and cherished diverse cultures and there’s a lot of commonality in different value systems.
While my stories may reflect Indian way of upbringing a child, certain moral values are universal. For example: ‘Sharing is a form of Caring’ holds universally true.
You have spent some considerable time teaching German. Surely your experience must have greatly influenced your book. Please comment.
Teaching experience did provide me an opportunity to understand children and their psychology better. This has definitely influenced me to write the book. I had a flair for German language as a toddler, which later motivated me to learn and pursue the language. The role played by my German language teachers, Frau and Herr Dayal, who run Institute of German Studies in NCR in India, where I studied German levels A1 to C2, greatly influenced me in taking up German language teaching as a career. The credit goes to them for laying my foundation and also initiating me into writing in German language. My foundation as a teacher was further strengthened when I successfully completed Bachelor of Education, which also gave me a promotion to work as a Trained Graduate Teacher in a reputed public school in the NCR. There, I could interact with a large number of students in the age group of 10 years to 15 years. I also served as a class teacher and also took Value Education classes for 5th grade students, where I imparted teaching of moral values, which I acquired from my parents, teachers and the spiritual books read by me over the years.
Who is the “Yudi” you idolized in your childhood years?
I don’t remember anyone like Yudi from my childhood. There, however, was one of my students who kind of fits well into the character of Yudi. I always wanted to have a son like him. He was a very well-behaved, intelligent, ever smiling and loving child. Today, I am grooming my son to be like him.
Any German writer whose writings you admire?
My first favourite book, Wir Kinder aus Bullerbü, written by Astrid Lindgren, had a great impact on me as a child. My German friend had gifted it to me. I loved the small incidents and light-hearted storyline. I was able to read the entire book on my own and it was like a novel. I was very fond of reading as early as in my 2nd grade. I remember going early to school and quietly pulling out books from a red box full of interesting books kept in our classroom. Once I remember getting caught by my class teacher, but to my surprise, she motivated further to read books. Today, I bring books from the library for my son. Some of my son’s favourites are books by Daniel Kratzke, Marie Voigt and David Melling. He likes books with a touch of humour. I guess, I should learn to write such books.
Parenting is a very exhausting experience. How did you find “method in the madness” in the middle of this juggling role of a mother to chronicle the random bedtime stories you narrated to your son?
Yes, parenting is not an easy process and I am still learning on this front. I try to look for solutions naturally by recalling my learning from experiences besides consulting elders at times. Children learn better with indirect instructions and that’s the idea behind this book. I created motivational stories from my son’s day-to-day experiences so that he can relate to them easily. Apart from this, I couldn’t have been able to pull it off without indulging in yoga, meditation, prayer and regular walks.
In the fast-paced lives of today when gadgets have become the first toys of many kids, how do you see the relevance of moral stories?
While kids like to play and enjoy with toys, they have ample desire and time to communicate verbally and learn. I feel that reading books to kids is an excellent way of indirect learning, which they also enjoy and is equally effective as toys.
Yes, today’s generation is also glued to gadgets. I feel that it may be difficult for parents to altogether prevent it. They should, however, keep a careful watch and be vigilant of the type of content their kids are viewing. I as a parent try to do the same. Also I regularly bring hardcopy of books for my son. As E-books tend to increase screen time, paperbacks are preferable or rather essential.
Click the icon below to follow the author or buy the ebook.
